diff --git a/virtualbmc/cmd/vbmc.py b/virtualbmc/cmd/vbmc.py
index c1ab65b..85f8cd3 100644
--- a/virtualbmc/cmd/vbmc.py
+++ b/virtualbmc/cmd/vbmc.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class ZmqClient(object):
     and `rows` attributes pointing to lists of cell values.
     """
 
-    SERVER_TIMEOUT = 5000  # milliseconds
+    SERVER_TIMEOUT = CONF['default']['server_response_timeout']
 
     @staticmethod
     def to_dict(obj):
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class ZmqClient(object):
                     vbmcd.main([])
 
                 # TODO(etingof): perform some more retries
-                time.sleep(3)
+                time.sleep(CONF['default']['server_spawn_wait'] / 1000.)
 
                 # MQ will deliver the original message to the daemon
                 # we've started
diff --git a/virtualbmc/config.py b/virtualbmc/config.py
index 4b73a48..5d7a418 100644
--- a/virtualbmc/config.py
+++ b/virtualbmc/config.py
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ class VirtualBMCConfig(object):
                 os.path.expanduser('~'), '.vbmc', 'master.pid'
             ),
             'server_port': 50891,
+            'server_response_timeout': 5000,  # milliseconds
+            'server_spawn_wait': 3000,  # milliseconds
         },
         'log': {
             'logfile': None,
diff --git a/virtualbmc/tests/unit/test_config.py b/virtualbmc/tests/unit/test_config.py
index 43ad746..ee5474c 100644
--- a/virtualbmc/tests/unit/test_config.py
+++ b/virtualbmc/tests/unit/test_config.py
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ class VirtualBMCConfigTestCase(base.TestCase):
         self.config_dict = {'default': {'show_passwords': 'true',
                                         'config_dir': '/foo/bar/1',
                                         'pid_file': '/foo/bar/2',
-                                        'server_port': '12345'},
+                                        'server_port': '12345',
+                                        'server_spawn_wait': 3000,
+                                        'server_response_timeout': 5000},
                             'log': {'debug': 'true', 'logfile': '/foo/bar/4'},
                             'ipmi': {'session_timeout': '30'}}